Love in the Time of Cholera gets film treatment

A Hollywood production company has bought the film rights to the Gabriel García Márquez novel Love in the Time of Cholera, in a deal reported to be close to $3m (£1.6m).

Assuming the project goes ahead, it will mark the first English-language film adaptation of the Colombian author's work. Rupert Everett starred in a 1987 Italian version of the García Márquez story Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

First published in 1985, Love in the Time of Cholera traces the Job-like vigil of Florentino Ariza who waits for over half a century to claim the hand of Fermina Daza, the woman he loves. "Next to 'Romeo and Juliet,' this is the greatest love story ever told," said producer Scott Steindorff, who bought the rights. "I'm going to make a lot of men really unhappy because this is all about romance. This guy works 50 years to court a woman."

Born in Colombia in 1928, García Márquez first came to fame with his 1967 novel One Hundred Years of Solitude. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1982.

Love in the Time of Cholera will be produced by Stone Village. A writer and director have yet to be hired.